University of KentuckySIP METS submitted to KDL.University of KentuckySIP METS and associated file(s) submitted in University of Kentucky Preservation Repository.1982OH011_FNS154_Whittlesey.xmlInterview with Wilma Duval Whittlesay, November 30, 1979Frontier Nursing Service Oral History ProjectDale Deaton; interviewerWilma Duval Whittlesay; intervieweeFrontier Nursing Service, Inc.Rural health servicesLouie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries1979-11-30oral historiesaudioKUK:FNS001:1982OH011_FNS_154englishThis digital resource may be freely searched and displayed. Permission must be received for subsequent distribution in print or electronically. Physical rights are retained by the owning repository. Copyright is retained in accordance with U. S. copyright laws. Please go to http://kdl.kyvl.org for more information.Wilma Whittlesey first read of the FNS in the rotogravure section of the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1929. She answered a secretarial ad and became Mary Breckinridge's secretary from 1929 to 1936. She calls Breckinridge a renaissance woman and tells of her many accomplishments. Whittlesey traveled with Breckinridge for speaking engagements and answered much of her correspondence personally. Mention is made of Breckinridge's correspondence with an English spiritualist and the disposition of the letters. Whittlesey comments upon federal assistance during the Depression and upon road-building in the area but indicates that the local economy was not dependent upon factors very much influenced by outside events. After initial local resistance to federal programs, Breckinridge persuaded key individuals of their value. Whittlesey was at one time part of a team of nurses who conducted a survey in the Ozark Mountains concerning implementation of the FNS in that area.2012View Collection Guide to obtain rights information.